Predators win at St. Louis but lose players to injury

Martin Erat’s offensive surge continued but his night ended early as the Nashville Predators defeated the Blues 4-3[1] but also sustained some personnel losses Tuesday at St. Louis.

Erat had an assist on Patric Hornqvist’s goal at 12:43 of the first period, which put the Predators in front to stay. That ran his current point streak to three games and gave him 18 points (10 goals, eight assists) in his last 14 games.

However, he was injured late in the first period and did not return.

Also injured was defenseman Kevin Klein, who played just two shifts and a total of 32 seconds before he was knocked from the contest. Klein is one of five Nashville players who have appeared in every game this season.

The Predators (23-14-3, 49 points) had lost their previous three and fell behind 1:29 into the contest.

They evened the score 1-1 on Marcel Goc’s goal at 5:04 of the opening period. It was the eighth goal of the season for Goc, which matched his career-high set in 81 games with San Jose in 2005-06.

Joel Ward added a power-play goal in the second period, and J.P. Dumont scored (his second goal in 14 games) in the third before the Blues finally struck again. Shea Weber equaled his single-game high for assists when he registered one on each of Nashville’s final three goals.

St. Louis (17-17-5, 39 points) scored twice in a span of 3:22 of the third beginning with Alexander Steen’s goal with 10:52 to go. The Blues outshot Nashville 12-4 over the final 20 minutes but failed to score the equalizer.

Nashville, which has scored four or more in six of its last eight outings, concludes a three-game road trip – all against Central Division opponents – Thursday at Columbus.

Briefly

• Forward Dave Scatchard was reassigned to Milwaukee prior to the game.

The 33-year-old forward who made his return to the NHL this season following almost two full years of inactivity, had five points (three goals, two assists) in 16 games with Nashville. He was a scratch in eight of the previous 13.

Scatchard opened the season with the Admirals and spent much of the middle part of November there as well. He has scored seven goals with one assist in 11 games for Milwaukee.